We Are Not Alone

Last week I was on retreat. A priest-friend gave me passages and pondering points and a pad from Monday to Friday. It was a good week, insofar as it revealed once again how far I have to go when it comes to the discipline of prayer.

Did you ever notice that it's easier to note how far you have to go with some good quality or practice, than how far you have come with said quality or practice? It's easier for me, anyhow; and it's related to the equally debilitating attitude that "that blogger/priest/etc. is so much more popular/accomplished/effective/etc. than I." Another favorite topic on The Shipwrack-Harvest! "Which I might as well give up, because so few people read it anyhow." I wasn't planning on making a final post, but I wasn't planning on ceasing to complain either.

After our parish's "Advent Vespers," a combination of the Church's Evening Prayer and our Choir's offering of inspirational and sacred music, God threw me a bone. A choir member thanked me (as he had done at least once before) for my blog, which he said he reads faithfully. He noticed that I hadn't posted this past week, and was looking forward to the next offering.

My reaction:

Well, it wasn't too far a-field of that, anyhow.

It's true, and it's confirmed many times daily: I am no Elizabeth Scalia, no Fr Dwight Longenecker, no Anthony Esolen; but get this, folks (I say in the mirror): Every second I spend mulling over who I'm not, is a second not being spent on who I am. A second irreplaceably wasted. Cheating God by dissing one of His creations and by devoting no energy to crafting the talent He's given me, the "definite service" only I can discharge.

Yeah, I know, this is an old topic. I have treated it before. And previously. If any of my readership, or someone they know, bears a similar cross, let them profit from knowing they are not alone.

People recognize they aren't alone precisely because of communication. Others reach out, and they receive the outreach; or they might reach out, from the depths of their solitude, and someone is there to meet their flailing, groping grip with one of their own. The written word, on paper or online, is a valid venue for outreach. The Internet is a forum for all kinds of research and connection, especially in the spiritual realm. It has profited me well, and this blog is one example. Knowing that some people find it at all, and find it enjoyable, is a great consolation.

"We read to know we are not alone," said C. S. Lewis; and certainly that must apply to writing, too!